This invention relates to interactive entertainment network systems, such as interactive television (ITV) systems, and to methods for operating such interactive entertainment network systems.
Movie audiences are familiar with browsing for video movies in video rental stores. These stores offer hundreds to thousands of videos that are conveniently arranged in racks throughout a physical building space. Typically, the videos are grouped according to different categories. For instance, videos are grouped by kind, such as new releases, oldies, westerns, foreign films, family films, video games, and so forth. Other groupings might be by actor/actress name, alphabetical order of title, or topic. The movie groups assist shoppers in locating a video section of the store that interests them. The shopper can then limit his/her search for a suitable video to that section.
Newer, interactive television (ITV) systems are now bringing the video store to peoples"" homes. ITV systems have a single computerized control center, known as the xe2x80x9cheadendxe2x80x9d, which interactively communicates with multiple distributed television units located in subscriber homes. The headend provides traditional forms of programming, such as the familiar cable and broadcast programs, as well as newer forms of programming, such as video-on-demand. In the video-on-demand (VOD) mode of operation, a viewer can order video movies directly from his/her own television set. Indeed, in a full interactive entertainment network system like this invention, it is contemplated that a viewer will be able to order xe2x80x9con demandxe2x80x9d movies, video games, television shows, and other video content programs from their home.
It would be advantageous for an ITV system to provide movies in a convenient organized fashion like that afforded by a video store. Unfortunately, unlike a video store which has an abundance of physical floor space to present many different movies, the ITV system only has limited space available on a TV screen to present the options. Due to the space constraints, the ITV system is limited to displaying short lists of movies for possible rental. Browsing through hundreds or thousands of movie titles using short lists is fairly cumbersome for a viewer. This inconvenience is multiplied if the viewer is forced to revisit the selection process of the entire, overwhelmingly large database of movies each time he/she wants to rent a video.
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide an ITV system with a convenient way to manage lists of movies according to the preferences of each viewer.
Another issue that often arises when renting video movies is the dilemma of selecting one or two movies from among all of the available choices. After browsing for a good length of time, a shopper commonly weeds out a vast majority of the video options to arrive at several movies of interest. From this filtered selection, the shopper selects one or two movies for rental, a process which can be particularly tough if two or more people are shopping together. The non-selected videos are returned to the shelf with the shopper resolving to remember the other selections for xe2x80x9cnext timexe2x80x9d. On the next trip to the video store, however, the shopper has inevitably forgotten the previous selections and thus repeats the entire filter-and-select process, again consuming a tremendous amount of browsing time.
In the ITV environment, where short lists and menus are presented, a viewer might experience difficulty in browsing through lists and then returning to one list to rent a particular movie. This task is different than the video store arena where the shopper simply returns to the physical racks which hold the movies of interest. Many individuals are not accustomed to manipulating selections using computer user interfaces, and might find them less intuitive than physically walking to the same section of the video store each time to rent movies of interest. The additional problem of xe2x80x9crememberingxe2x80x9d other movies of interest in the ITV setting is equally daunting because the viewer must not only remember the movies themselves, but must also remember how to intelligently traverse through the various screen menus to find these movies.
Accordingly, another object of this invention is to provide an ITV system that allows a viewer to easily identify movies of interest.
This invention provides an interactive entertainment network system with a video-on-demand (VOD) application that allows the viewer to create a customized list of preferred video content programs, such as movies, games, TV shows, and so forth. Viewers are permitted to select criteria for grouping various video content programs into manageable sets. Once grouped, previews for the set of programs can be displayed. The VOD application permits the viewer to browse the previews at their own rate, skipping forward to the next preview or backward to the previous preview. During this automated browsing, the VOD application permits the viewer to add any programs of interest to a customized list. The viewer can retrieve the customized list at any time, which is much more convenient than trying to remember programs of interest or where they are located in the lists.
The interactive entertainment network system of this invention has a headend connected to multiple user interface units in individual homes via a distribution network, such as cable, RF, and/or satellite network. The headend provides full length video content programs to the user interface units, which are commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cset-top boxesxe2x80x9d in the ITV arena. The headend also supplies previews, which are known as xe2x80x9ctrailersxe2x80x9d in the film industry, about the programs.
The headend has a storage medium in the form of a continuous media server database and a program information database. The continuous media server database stores the actual video data streams of both the full length video content programs and their associated preview video trailers. The video data streams are stored digitally as individual data files. Unique monikers are assigned to each program and trailer to locate them within the continuous media server database. The headend also has a program information database which maintains program data records pertaining to the video content programs. The program data records contain information about the programs, such as a program ID, title, moniker, cast members, director, rating, length of movie, brief description, and so on.
The program information database also contains a list of viewers and their uniquely assigned viewer IDs. The program information database correlates the program IDs of the video content programs with the viewer IDs to maintain customized lists of programs for each viewer according to his/her individual preferences. In one implementation, the correlation is accomplished using a join table which interrelates the program and viewer IDs.
Each user interface unit has a processor and a video-on-demand (VOD) application which executes on that processor. The VOD application enables a user to order one or more video content programs from the headend. The VOD application is initiated when the viewer switches to a designated VOD channel. Upon entering the VOD application, the STB transmits a message containing the viewer ID to the headend via the distribution network. The headend, responsive to the message, queries the program information database to retrieve all of the program IDs that are correlated with that viewer ID. These program IDs identify program data records of the programs which are part of the viewer""s customized list. The headend transmits the program data records back to the requesting STB.
A user interface operable on the STB displays the customized list in a scrollable format. The viewer is permitted to scroll up or down, whereby one entry on the list is removed as another is added. The scroll rate is adjustable, thereby permitting the viewer to select a comfortable reading pace.
The viewer can order a video by selecting an entry on the customized list. The program moniker of the selected program is sent to the headend. The program moniker is used by the continuous media server database to retrieve the selected video content program.
The program information database contains a rental period associated with the ordered video content program. The rental period is typically longer in duration than the runtime length of the associated video content program. The headend transmits the ordered video content program as many times as the viewer requests during the rental period, but refuses to transmit the ordered content program upon expiration of the rental period.